Monday dawned at (you don't want to know).

Since skipping breakfast was one of the reasons I was putting weight back on (picture me 10 a.m and a box of Pot Tarts calling to me in the work breakroom) I'm making it a point to eat each morning.

I made my smoothie up Sunday night, enough for 3 days.  I just give it a quick blend and pour a glass. Smoothies are great but for me they don't work as a meal replacement, no matter how many calories. I need something that says "BITE ME!.  So I served my smoothie with oat bran muffins as a change of pace from my usual toast. These are the "Cholesterol Cure" book recipe without the fruit and nuts (extra calories).  They're quite plain though I add.

But they are VERY filling, flour free, very low in sugar and fat, with only about a hundred and ten calories without the raisins and nuts. The texture is similar to a corn muffin and they can be addicting as a breakfast munchie when you get used to much less sugar in your diet.

I probably won't be posting photos of lunches in the lunchroom at work ("Who is that weird woman taking closeups of a tuna sandwich?")  But I will do so when I eat out or just drive my truck to someplace with trees and sit and eat.

Today, I split a Panera Napa chicken salad sandwich (690 calories for a single sandwich!) with a friend I met for lunch and had the apple that was the side.

My 60 plus-year-old friend instead got a brownie because she rides her bike about 5 miles every day and does 3-4 days of swimming and/or yoga each week.  She's petite and wears those cute, brightly colored designer outfits that make her look like a model and make me look like a Highway Traffic Cone.   (Hmmm. . . correlation between energy out and energy in - must do further research :-)

But I have to ask Panera - seriously, outside of Captain Carb who orders a Baguette as a sie to their sandwich?

My afternoon snack was a few almonds (about 1/3 cup)

Work was going to go later than expected I was sure, so I packed a Bento Box before I went to sleep, just in case.

Fruit, cucumbers from a friend's garden splashed with a little rice vinegar,  dark chocolate sugar-free pudding, salad and some Gardein crispy "chicken" strips.  A light, cold supper I could eat at my desk. Yummy and SO much better than bringing back another restaurant sandwich to eat.

Total for the day:  Breakfast 360.  Lunch  (splitting a sandwich)  425   Snack 170  Dinner 400  for a bit more than 1350 ish for the day.

The glass of wine I had when I got home doesn't count.  Because I drank it standing up.

OK  1500 calories for the day.

Exercise?  Let's just say it's hard on 10-14 hour work days.